Martin Malavé Dilan's posts related to New York City

$138 billion spending plan funds citywide Pre-K, increases to TAP and higher-ed opportunity programs.Senator Martin Malavé Dilan (D-Bushwick) announced the passage of a $138 billion budget that includes $300 million for universal Pre Kindergarten programs in New York City, new government reforms and increased funding to social programs.“This year’s budget has made great strides to meet new, and greater demands while continuing to offset the gaps left by previous year’s cuts. I commend Governor Cuomo and my Senate Colleagues for delivering a responsible spending plan that spends smart, invests in our students, and offers some much-needed relief for our working families,” said Senator Dilan.

In response to the recent spate of rent regulated building owners intentionally destroying units in attempts to drive tenants out, Senator Martin Malavé Dilan (D-Bushwick) and Assemblyman Joseph R. Lentol (D-North Brooklyn) have introduced new legislation making the practice a criminal act.

S. 6941 would expand tenant protections by establishing the crime of Sabotage of Rent Regulated Accommodations, a class D felony. Existing tenant protections prohibit the harassment of rent regulated tenants in an attempt to drive them out. However, the recent rise in intentional destruction of regulated units, and the severity of the damage, are well beyond the scope of current law.

A bill in the state legislature would criminalize the act of “rent sabotage,” making it a felony for landlords to destroy their own buildings in the hopes of forcing out tenants living in rent-controlled units.

The measure was introduced this month following continued reports of hostilities between renters and property owners in increasingly gentrified Brooklyn neighborhoods. Tenants who've spent many years in the same apartments without problems have accused landlords of sending in men with sledgehammers and power saws to make the properties unliveable.

Senator Dilan joined state representatives, city officials and advocates at the intersection of McGuinness Boulevard and Nassau Avenue to welcome the latest of 25 planned arterial slow zones throughout the city. McGuinness Boulevard joins Atlantic Avenue and the Grand Concourse as a 25 mph arterial slow zone, with signal re-timings and new signage to be added in the coming weeks.

State Senator Dilan will join Senator Squadron, US Rep. Maloney, Assemblyman Lentol, Councilmember Levin, Borough President Adams and CB1 for a community town hall on the summer shutdown of the G Train on Thursday, April 3, 6 p.m. On July 26, through September 1, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority will suspend G Train service between Long Island City and Nassau Avenue to make Superstorm Sandy-related repairs. Although, the MTA will provide full shuttle service for G riders, Senator Dilan, local elected and rider advocates want to provide the community a forum to discuss additional measures that may be taken to accommodate riders.

Governor Cuomo announced that the state’s Tenant Protection Unit (TPU) has served a subpoena on JBI Management to investigate allegations of intentionally sabotaging rent regulated apartments to drive tenants out.

Senator Dilan introduced legislation to bolster the state’s Tenant Protection Unit’s ability to root out unscrupulous landlords. The measure would make sabotage of a rent regulated unit a felony. Harassment of tenants is currently a felony under existing law.

Continuing efforts to garner support for a measure to allow New York City to establish lower speed limits, Senator Dilan, Senate colleagues, city councilmembers and the families of loved ones lost to reckless driving, gathered in Albany to call for the passage of the legislation.

S.6496-A, sponsored by Senator Dilan in the Senate, and carried by Assembly Member O’Donnell (A.8478A) in the Assembly, would allow the city of New York to establish speed limits as low as 20 m.p.h. The proposal is intended to supplement Mayor de Blasio’s Vision Zero initiative to eliminate traffic fatalities and serious injuries by 2024.

Senator Dilan has amended his initial proposal to allow the City of New York to establish speed limits as low as 20 mph, after the families of those lost to reckless driving, advocates and city officials agreed to stand behind a 25 mph proposal. A resolution in the City Council sponsored by Council Member David Greenfield, affirming city-wide support of the agreed upon 25 mph legislation and urging the State Legislature to act on the measure, was approved overwhelmingly.

Support for granting localities the ability to establish speed limits as low as 20 mph has grown well beyond the five boroughs. On the same day Senator Dilan joined Families for Safe Streets to urge support for the City of New York to establish its own limits, the Senate convened to take up a number of bills before the house, including a bill to allow the Town of Riverhead, Suffolk County, to set its own speed limits.

Senator Dilan, Transportation Alternatives and Community Board 4 are hosting a Community Street Safety Workshop to solicit suggestions and ideas for the implementation of the city-wide Vision Zero traffic safety initiative in Bushwick.